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<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/29512614">Bonds</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/TundrainAfrica/pseuds/TundrainAfrica'>TundrainAfrica</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>Shingeki no Kyojin | Attack on Titan</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Genre:</b></td><td>Canon Rewrite, Canon Universe, F/M, Family Feels, Family Fluff, Fluff and Angst, Self-Indulgent, Soulmates, slight AU, soulchild, where Udo is Levihan's lovechild</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>Completed</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2021-02-17</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2021-02-17</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-05-16 02:54:23</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>Not Rated</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>No Archive Warnings Apply</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>1</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>5,564</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/29512614</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/TundrainAfrica/pseuds/TundrainAfrica</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              <p>"Bonds exist out there for every single person. And they manifest as senses of belongingness, bursts of consequences and unexplainable phenomenon of just trusting people a little too quickly despite preconceptions and past traumas. </p><p>The bond between parent and child, guardian and ward, that familial bond transcends whatever worldly rules govern it. </p><p>And in their spiritual bond, maybe there was more to be found and realized."</p><p>Udo has a strange yet comforting bond with Levi and Hange.</p>
            </div></td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Relationships:</b></td><td>Levi Ackerman/Hange Zoë</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Comments:</b></td><td>14</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Kudos:</b></td><td>95</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Collections:</b></td><td>Tumblr Prompts and Oneshots (Tundrainafrica)</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>Bonds</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
      <p>Written for the prompt: UDO AS LEVIHAN’S LOVE CHILD??! (And eventually long lost and found with a lot of angst and fluff??) thank you :))</p><p>I took liberties with canon and with Levi and Hange's past to make this work lmfao, but anyway, I hope you like it?</p>
    </blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>Every life is born out of a bond.</p><p>For those who are lucky, that same love and the same bonds that bore them would be found in that same hand that first caresses them their first few moments out of the womb. That same bond would be found in that hand that first feeds them, that firmness that holds a child steady as they take their first steps.</p><p>There are others who aren’t so lucky.</p><p>Sometimes they live their lives never feeling the bond in the first hand that feeds them yet, sometimes they find it elsewhere, ten or twenty years into the future. Sometimes, when these unlucky ones opt never to venture out and find for themselves the feeling that had been denied to them from the day they were born, they never do find it.</p><p>But it’s always out there. Bonds exist out there for every single person. And they manifest as senses of belongingness, bursts of consequences and unexplainable phenomenon of just trusting people a little too quickly despite preconceptions and past traumas. </p><p>The bond between parent and child, guardian and ward, that familial bond transcends whatever worldly rules govern it.</p><p>And in that spiritual bond, maybe there was more to be found and realized.</p><p> </p>
<hr/><p> </p><p>For Udo, it started out as a feeling. But everything in life always starts out as a sensation or a feeling before one’s mind turns it into something with reason.</p><p>When Udo was old enough to have started making sense of the world, maybe he did feel it. Maybe he had felt it a little too strongly in the long afternoons at home alone that stretched out to evenings. Maybe he had felt it a little too weakly in the nights when his guardians guided him to bed with nothing more than a ‘sweet dream.’</p><p>It was only after experiencing enough of those whirlwinds of stimuli and emotions, after long days learning the alphabet then learning to explain the ‘hot’ and the ‘cold,’ the ’sad’ and the ‘happy,’ do children eventually learn that everything that had been chaos since the day they were born, had names.</p><p>Udo was no exception. After a while that chaos did die down, and the remnants of that chaos did start to fall into their own boxes. And when the dust settled and when he had experienced enough of those sad long afternoons alone in the living room and those short cold greetings of goodnight in his bedroom, he had not been born in a house of love, he had been born into a house of necessity.</p><p>Words like ‘necessity’ nor ‘obligation’ had not been introduced to that young boy yet when he first noticed that odd atmosphere, when he first started to compare the look his parents to those his own peers would get from their own parents.</p><p>The first time it had dawned on him that it had been anything more than an oddity, it had dawned on a lot of other people too. Maybe that was how he had figured out he was a little different.</p><p>It had all started with a single question.</p><p>“Udo? Tell us about your parents.” It was a routine question which Udo didn’t think much of then. In fact, he didn’t even know how he had answered such a question then.</p><p>The introduction on parents and the importance of those types of people in one’s life had developed into a drawing activity. And before Udo had even noticed what he did, years before he had understood the gravity of that simple action, he had lunged for the green crayons, the brown ones and the black ones and maybe he did create some backgrounds with trees, an underground city below and in the middle of it all: a bespectacled woman and a man a few inches shorter than her.</p><p>“Doesn’t your mom have black hair?” A teacher spoke up from behind him then.</p><p>The criticisms soon followed. <em>Your dad isn’t shorter than your mom. Doesn’t your father have brown hair? </em></p><p>He was given a new piece of paper, the other one confiscated never to be seen again. And Udo was unable to set this activity aside until he drew his two other companions at home.</p><p><em>Mom and Dad. </em>In the grand scheme of things those had just been names he was taught to call those at home.</p><p>But there should have been more meaning to those names right? If they were just names, then why did his schoolmates say them so loudly, so excitedly when they were picked up after a long day of school? Why had his teacher seemed so worried, confused enough to grab his old paper and drop him a new one?</p><p><em>Was there something they saw that he didn’t? </em>He hadn’t noticed it then, nor did he think of it as more than just a passing feeling then.</p><p>Maybe he just was the odd one out.</p><p> </p>
<hr/><p> </p><p>Udo was a little older when he had learned the art of storytelling.</p><p>When he was around eight or nine, he had sat in enough of those circles with a teacher in the middle holding a large book that the smooth flow and the structure that so easily blended into words had come a little too easy for him.</p><p>And as it soon turned out, he did have stories to tell. So many. Enough to attract a good number of children during recess times.</p><p>They had started as five kids which eventually became six then seven. Most kids liked the big crowds, they liked the chaos and most importantly they liked fitting in. The growing number of children that surrounded Udo had only served to speed up what was already becoming a congregation of not just his class, but the whole batch.</p><p>There were individual opinions, individual voices among those who had so eagerly asked him for his stories.</p><p>"But where do I start?" He had asked then.</p><p>"Tell me again about the underground city," one quipped.</p><p>The students did eventually reach a consensus. And as Udo spoke up on it, he had to admit, he was only getting better and better at imagining such a view.</p><p> </p>
<hr/><p> </p><p>It was on a week long holiday did rookie Hange Zoe finally get a chance to visit the underground city. Oddly enough, She had lived her whole life in Wall Sina and was always a few feet above the underground city.  Having lived such a sheltered life for the past almost twenty years of her life though, she never did get any opportunity to just wander off.</p><p>
  <em>It’s too dangerous. That’s where all the criminal organizations gather. You might get caught in a gang fight. </em>
</p><p>
  <em>It’s not like there is anything to work seeing there right? People of the underground city can only dream of living in Wall Sina. And you grew up here already.</em>
</p><p>She never believed them. There always existed more beautiful things in the world. There should be more to life than the gaudy and overly elegant finishings of the buildings that lined the most beautiful districts of Wall Sina. She was sure there was more to beauty than the well kept lawns and the regularly cleaned cobblestone streets.</p><p><em>Sometimes there is beauty in chaos and in a little stain every now and then. </em>And Hange had gripped to that belief, so tightly, it eventually had her more than eager to join the military in the first place.</p><p>And the view as Hange walked down the steps of the underground city had her speechless, it had her breathless. Most importantly, it had her certain that at least there was some truth to her idiosyncratic beliefs</p><p>The underground city was always dark. As Hange soon realized as she took in the view, the lights that dotted the city shone bright. And they would never fade. The ceiling above her, so different from the endless sky above the districts of Wall Sina, served as another wonder in the way that they caught the lights, only making the lights wreak more havoc into the city below.</p><p>So many lights at once to take in and the so many ways they blended into each other, the stronger lights among the weaker ones. The voices that only complemented the already breathtaking view echoed against one another bounced back from wall to wall. If Hange listened closely she might have even been able to tell one voice from the other, one conversation from another.</p><p><em>I might even be eavesdropping on a few meetings among gang members. </em>Hange mused. For a second she did consider the dangers of wandering along the underground city.</p><p>Despite its reputation and the warnings that echoed in her head, Hange still had to admit: The underground city was a site to behold.</p><p> </p>
<hr/><p> </p><p>“How did they meet?” One girl spoke up.</p><p>“Let me finish!” Udo said, maybe a little too irritably. That one question in particular had pulled him back into reality so abruptly that it was had been just a little too annoying.</p><p>For a moment, Udo wasn’t seeing the small courtyard nor the large tree he had taken shade under as he spoke nor the blue sky behind it. He had been in the underground, he was keen to the musty smell that had settled in such a wide yet enclosed area. And maybe he did get lost among the lights that shone a little brighter in the natural dimness of the underground.</p><p>“But how did they meet?” The girl continued to press as if she too had been too lost in the story to even register how abrasive Udo’s tone had been at that moment.</p><p>As Udo leaned back on the tree and looked up at the sky, he did realize, it wasn’t too hard to imagine once again the musty smells, the conversations that bounced from wall to wall in the city that never slept. It wasn’t too hard to transport himself back to that world as if he were the one walking through the streets that night.</p><p>Soon enough, he had forgotten about the girl who had so rudely interrupted him and eventually he did forget that it was all a tale that he had weaved himself through his own words.</p><p> </p>
<hr/><p> </p><p>“Hey! What are you doing?”</p><p>Hange had plans of being particularly low key that afternoon. Her only goal that day was to satisfy her own curiosity then quietly slip out and pretend she had never entered the underground in the first place.</p><p>Fate had other plans. Or was it fate? Maybe it had been her curiosity or a hero complex that had her approaching the men who were so easily ganging up on some kid who Hange guessed couldn’t have been older than thirteen.</p><p>“You’re gonna end up killing him,” Hange said as she pushed one of the men aside and quickly surveyed the damage. The boy was lying on the ground, half conscious, his arm bent at an awkward angle, his face bloodied. Hange didn’t want to guess yet where the blood had come from but either way, she did have to note the men didn’t look like they were planning to stop soon.</p><p>“This <em>thing</em> was caught in our warehouse stealing boxes of merchandise and you don’t want us to kill him? Vermin should be killed while they’re still slow and growing.” Somehow, that comment had answered one question that nagged at Hange’s mind the past few seconds.</p><p><em>Of course, they don’t see him as a person. </em>Hange should have been surprised that the group of men hadn’t ganged up on her soon after she interrupted them but she had been too busy trying to survey the damage and make sense of the situation with as little questions as possible.</p><p>Hange crouched down before the young boy. “Hey I won’t let them hurt you but… you might have to give back what you stole. Can you at least tell me where the goods are?” She asked. She had been too busy looking for some sign of life and some consciousness in that bloodied face and those closed eyes. Maybe she had felt a little too much empathy for the young boy, it caught at her throat yet at the same time it twisted her gut and made her a little less aware of her surroundings.</p><p>She was a soldier though. She should have been more wary of the murmurs, the footsteps but by the time they did get close enough, when she did sense the danger and looked back almost instinctively, the wooden bat was on its way down to meet its target.</p><p>The target was her head. And the harsh sound it made as it clanged onto metal, the way it echoed so loudly yet roughly had Hange thinking for a second that if it had met its target, she would have been way worse off than the boy behind her.</p><p>Hange instinctively stepped back and put her hand in front of the boy as if that would have been enough to defend him against whatever ways the men had planned to hurt him.</p><p>“What the fuck is wrong with you strangers? Getting involved in other’s business.” The man with the bat hissed.</p><p>“This is my business too. That boy is one of my wards. I<em> ordered </em>him to steal them.”</p><p>Hange’s first thought then had been how idiotic of a statement that last sentence had been. The glance she managed as she looked back before hearing the clang of metal to wood, had her at least certain her savior had been of a smaller frame.</p><p>
  <em>Was he a teenager too? Are they a gang full of child criminals? </em>
</p><p>Yet, that statement had been effective, it had the men ganging on him. “Hey! Stop it!” Hange stood up, looking for whatever weapon she could find around the alley. The alley was empty save for a few pieces of litter which would be laughable excuses for weapons at the most.</p><p>When she had given up on that quick quest and looked back up though, the men were all sprawled on the ground. And the young boy in front of her, was once again pushing his own knife back into its pocket.</p><p>It could have been relief or it could have been gratefulness that had Hange babbling at that moment. “You did great! I work in the military and if you improve these fighting skills if yours, maybe you could join us when you’re a little old---.” Hange stopped herself mid-sentence, or maybe her mouth had stopped itself on its own.</p><p>The moment the young boy had turned back to her, the blood quickly rushed up to her face and maybe up to her forehead.</p><p>The man’s distinct cheekbones, his serious look and the lines under his eyes were enough for Hange to be certain she had made a mistake. He wasn’t a young teenage boy at all.</p><p>He was at least her age. <em>Or maybe even older.</em></p><p> </p>
<hr/><p> </p><p>"Were they best friends?"</p><p>It was in the middle of class, a few hours after lunch when his seatmate popped the question. The silent reading assignment and the teacher up front who looked as if she were checking papers had students murmuring. And the one who was lucky enough to be his seatmate obviously decided to take advantage of her strategic position.</p><p>“You can’t be best friends if you just met right?" Udo asked in return, more for himself than anything. <em>Or so that’s what they were taught about best friends. </em></p><p>“But there are people who can be best friends quickly right? My mommy and daddy told me they only dated for a month before they got married. And now they’re happy and they say they’re each other’s best friends.”</p><p>“My mom and dad too.” That reply had been almost instinctive. And Udo found himself wanting to amend that statement when he thought back to his silent days at home and his 'parents' who slept in different rooms.</p><p>“Really?” His seatmates eyes were wide with what could have been surprise. Somehow that had him a little annoyed.</p><p>“Yeah? Why? Is it weird?” Udo asked.</p><p>“You don’t talk about your parents and they never pick you up from school.”</p><p>“They don’t pick me up.” Udo said. In fact, he walked home and arrived at an empty house everyday but he wasn’t telling her that.</p><p>“Tell me about them!”</p><p>“My mom is really tall and my dad is short and they look a little funny together since mom is really loud and she’s always smiling and dad always looks serious and sometimes he scares the people he talks to… They’re opposites.”</p><p>“But they still live together right? And they had you so they should like each other right?”</p><p>“They do like each other. They’re best friends. And they became best friends very fast.”</p><p> </p>
<hr/><p> </p><p>“Fortunately, it looks like he will make it. None of the wounds look like they could have killed him but I still recommend you get him to a doctor to have his wounds checked again.”</p><p>“I’ll wait for the chaos to die down a bit.” Levi leaned his head against the door and looked up at the ceiling as if deep in thought. “ We're lucky at least the person I saved has some first aid training. I wouldn’t have done it without you.” His voice had softened then and Hange could have almost mistaken that last statement for a thank you.</p><p>Hange chuckled. “You’re surprisingly kind for a criminal.”</p><p>“You’re surprisingly kind for someone who sold their soul to the military.”</p><p>“Yeah, I did mention I was from the military right?”</p><p>“I think you mentioned it at least three times the past hour,” Levi said.</p><p>Hange gave him a wry smile. In the frenzy of transporting the boy to their safehouse, Hange did forget what she had been talking about. “Yeah, I mean I did volunteer to administer first aid, I wanted to prove I was at least qualified.”</p><p>“Even if you didn’t mention you were in the military, I probably would have taken your word for it. We’re not really in the best situation to take him to the doctor now. By now someone would have discovered the bodies. I’d rather that little scene in the alley be forgotten before we venture out again and take new jobs.”</p><p>“By jobs you mean…”</p><p>Levi narrowed his eyes at her. “Yes, stealing, sabotage. Whatever we can get our hands on. We need to make ends meet. Besides, it’s not like we’re stealing from the needy..” His tone was nonchalant but the way he stared at her, his expression unmoving, Hange was sure he was watching her reaction closely.</p><p><em>I’m in the military, of course he’d be a little wary. </em>Hange had to note. “Yeah, and it’s not like all the military and government officials are heartless people who want to perpetuate the system.” And maybe a smile did creep up her lips when she mentioned that.</p><p>“Maybe you’re just one in a million.”</p><p>Hange shrugged. “Maybe you’re just one in a million too,” Hange retorted. “But you know what? You’ll continue thinking I’m just one in a million if you don’t see for yourself the types of soldiers there are above ground. A lot of people think just like me. I probably wouldn't have joined them if I didn’t believe what they’re fighting for.”</p><p>Levi’s face softened. “Maybe one day I’ll get to meet them then. And If they’re like you, they might not piss me off as much as the military police.”</p><p> </p>
<hr/><p> </p><p>“Udo! Everyone’s been talking about your parents. Must be cool having a mom from the military and a dad who’s a reformed criminal.”</p><p>“Yeah, it is cool…” Udo said.</p><p>“Wait, so your dad… Mr. Bock from the bakery used to be a thug in a gang?</p><p>Udo kept quiet. He may be Udo Bock but Mr. Bock wasn’t the face that came to his mind when he had heard the word dad.</p><p>“Kara has been talking about your parents and we were thinking…. Those stories you’ve been telling us… Was that how your mom and dad met?”</p><p><em>Was that how your mom and dad met? </em>“Yeah.”</p><p><em>The fight in the alley? Your dad saved your mom?</em>  All they needed was one person to approach Udo, then after he gave that one confirmation, suddenly everyone at once had started asking questions.</p><p>And that had left him a little too overwhelmed. Udo then was starting to realize there was just a little too much of his stories that did not make any sense.</p><p>
  <em>A criminal and a soldier? How do they meet? How do they get along?</em>
</p><p>As Udo thought back to the stories that manifested in clear conversations, distinct scents yet at the same time had blended into a conglomerate of sensations and emotions. There was one question that stick to him, had him reflecting so deeply that he did manage to tune out the questions.</p><p>
  <em>Did they ever meet each other again?</em>
</p><p> </p>
<hr/><p> </p><p>“You didn’t have to take me out. I know you’re still trying to keep a low profile.”</p><p>“The stairs going up aren’t too far from our safehouse. Besides it’s the least I can do, you’ve been a big help this past week,” Levi said as he followed her through the empty alleyways.</p><p>The alleyways snaked so haphazardly yet so inefficiently through the wider streets. Hange never did take the time to explore but she was sure, taking the main streets would have shaved off at the least a few minutes from their walking time.. Still, she found the alleys a better alternative. At the least they could have a final conversation that could last longer with little fear of being overheard.</p><p><em>A final conversation. </em>There was a huge chance it would be their final conversation given Hange’s line of work. Hell, that day could probably even have been her last leave date.</p><p>The next day, she would be back to preparing for her first expedition outside the walls and with the seventy percent casualty rate for new recruits, Hange was aware her days could be numbered.</p><p>Maybe that was why the silence of the alleyway had been at the least, an immaculate experience. Somehow, that past week had been an escape from the bustle of the life above land. There was no explicit routine to follow and consequently, no explicit timeline to see and the only thing she had to focus on was herself.</p><p><em>And maybe some others. </em>Isabel and Farlan had been good companions. Levi though had monopolized her thoughts the past week in the underground.</p><p>Levi was quiet at first glance and maybe a little too abrasive. Over the week, she did start to realize, they both harbored strong emotions that surprisingly aligned.  With more superficial truths, they tended to clash more than not but with the most fundamental truths, they were ran parallel.</p><p>She shook her head. It had only been a week, yet she was pondering such bonds. <em>The expedition outside the walls is just getting me a little emotional.</em></p><p>“You’re welcome to visit anytime. You know how to get there.”</p><p>“I’ll be a bit busy moving forward so I’m not sure if I’ll have the time,” Hange said. She kept her statement brief and maybe a little vague. She left the underlying meaning somewhere in the back of her mind though and willed herself strongly not to say it out loud.</p><p><em>Survey corps soldiers don’t usually survive their first mission. </em>And she knew enough statistics to at least understand, she was more likely to be part of the seventy than the thirty.</p><p>And the impending doom had her pondering emotions and reflecting as she looked back at the underground city. It had her pondering opportunities and consequently bonds, most importantly those that hadn’t been acted on. <em>And maybe will never be acted on. </em></p><p>Levi hadn’t left yet. She saw him at the foot of the stairs where they had parted. He was looking up at her as if he were observing something new in every step. And even as she looked back and stared straight ahead at the doorway that led to the stairs that would eventually take her above ground, she felt it. Maybe she had noticed it on her peripherals too.</p><p><em>Levi had made sure to watch her until he couldn’t anymore. </em>Or so, that was what Hange was assuming given the few crumbs she could at least pick up the slow and excruciating trek up the stairs. And she really wanted to believe her suspicion to be true.</p><p><em>We would have been best friends, Levi. Maybe even more. </em>She allowed herself one clear thought that made it easier at least to treat that suspicion as reality. If she were going to die in her first mission, might as well make allow herself one strange yet self indulgent thought.</p><p>She willed herself to forget it though and that one thought had been obedient. It quickly dissipated into nothing as she stepped out under the setting sun and took in the more tamed bustle along the cobble stoned streets and quaint houses in the Stohess district.</p><p>She assimilated into the crowds, keeping her pace steady and her steps careful. With her one week leave and her temporal escape over, she was once again a citizen aboveground.</p><p>She was once again a soldier of the Survey Corps.</p><p> </p>
<hr/><p> </p><p><em>Did they ever meet again? </em>It was as if the story ended there.</p><p>Yet there was a quick answer Udo knew so well. <em>Of course they did. </em>They hadn’t been a mother or father at all in those stories so they should have met again right? The development he had assumed them to have had to come from somewhere?</p><p>Over time though, teachers had started to become stricter and the cruel reality of being born an Eldian was becoming clearer and clearer. Udo did start to realize there was no beauty in creating stories out of nothing. That was how Udo found himself unable to answer the question yet. Not while he was still pondering how that had all seemed possible in the first place</p><p>It could have been three months or four months later. The crowds had died down and his stories had faded into whispers and a few good memories about the times when Udo would sit under the tree by the playground and tell stories.</p><p>Three months though was a short time in the grand scheme of things. And it looked like when Udo ran to school a little too excitedly and screamed, “<em>They did meet again!” </em>to his seatmate Kara, his class still was invested. It turned out they had just lain low waiting for the next installment to Udo’s tale.</p><p>The class once again exploded into cheers, into questions.</p><p>“How did they meet?”</p><p>“Did she survive the first battle?”</p><p>“Did he go above ground to find her?”</p><p>“He was forced to join the survey corps.”</p><p>“Survey Corps? What’s a survey corps?”</p><p><em>What is a survey corps? </em>Udo started to realize he never did mention that name. Yet somehow he knew exactly what it was.</p><p>“They are a group of soldiers who go on adventures outside their walled city. And they fight titans.” Udo had put his hands up and made a circle so wildly with them, the crowd that had started to form around him, only making the pictures in his head more and more vivid and consequently, he was getting all the more excited, maybe a little too excited.</p><p>The emotions and the scenes had taken over the words and Udo himself had started to forget his exact words as he spoke, maybe because in the midst of all the excitement and the euphoria of transporting himself into that whole little world, he had forgotten, being Eldian meant strict regulations, a strict structure to follow.</p><p>“Titans?”</p><p>“Yes the big scary naked ones but there are soldiers from the walled cities who fought the titans…” Udo explained</p><p>His teacher raised one eyebrow. “Who told you such a story?”: It had been the cold tone of his teacher that had pulled him back to reality. The crowd that had quickly disbanded around him only served to make the process of returning all the faster.</p><p>“I don’t know…” Udo managed to say. <em>What else was there to answer?</em></p><p>“Udo Bock, you’re coming with me.”</p><p> </p>
<hr/><p> </p><p>
  <em>How do you know all this? </em>
</p><p><em>Sometimes you just know. </em>But for the lowly Eldian, that answer did not suffice.</p><p>He had been suspended from classes. And in those few moments outside classes, there had been lectures from his parents and large books with charcoal illustrations about Ymir and her deal with the devil.</p><p><em>Those creatures in those walled cities are island devils They aren’t human! They can't feel. They can't love. They're animals.</em> </p><p>Mr. and Mrs. Bock could only do so much though. The stories had spread like wildfire. Children with the right catalyst were the biggest gossips after all. And Udo’s stories had been the bright catalysts that only served to add some color to their dreary lives in the intermittent zone. With the content, the rumor mill and the natural tendency for stories to build in the most interesting ways, eventually the public in the internment zone, caught wind to the message behind Udo’s story.</p><p>
  <em>Are you daydreaming that you’re the child of an island devil? </em>
</p><p>
  <em>Are you actually choosing these fake island devil parents over your actual parents?</em>
</p><p>And the rumor mill only grew. With it, the disgust and the animosity all trained towards his own family and his own home became all the more glaring.</p><p>Reality hit hard and the repercussions were quick to appear.</p><p>The customers to Mr. Bock’s bakery dwindled. <em>Why buy from the shop of an island devil sympathizer? </em></p><p>One night, Mrs. Bock came home to announce that she was currently looking for a new job.</p><p>And as Udo soon realized as he stepped back in the courtyard of his school a week later, when his suspension was to be lifted, he was not welcome. Neither by the students nor the teachers. At the least, the teacher had been polite enough to point that out before escorting him out of the courtyard.</p><p>It was only natural that his parents made the decision to move away to another internment zone and by then, the damage had been done. Udo did start to understand the world was a cruel place, particular for Eldians. And maybe he had been stepping out of line by entertaining emotions, feelings and sensations and creating such ways to articulate them.</p><p>Before everything, his teachers had commented that he was smart, a few notches above his peers when it came to writing and speaking. As soon as he stepped out of line though, suddenly he was an idiot, maybe even a little looney. And everyone who had ever been associated with him was just as much of a moron.</p><p>The internment zone in Marley they eventually had moved into was an improvement. The atmosphere was similar but at least he didn’t hear the spiteful whispers or feel the stares as he walked.</p><p>It was a new world. Like all new worlds, it provided a chance for a ‘new Udo.’ At least then, he was older, he was more aware of the limitations that came with being born Eldian. Mr. and Mrs Bock had quickly assimilated too, keeping their heads down and keeping their work low profile.</p><p>The peace only served to eventually remind Udo of his stories from so many years ago. As Udo soon figured out, the stories never did leave. They stuck to him like a birthmark, easily unnoticeable yet easy to look back on. He had just gotten older, a little more aware of his reality.</p><p>In fact, when the announcement came up on the recruitment process for warrior candidates, Udo had been quick to join, but not for the reasons most others had.</p><p>It was a quick guise. No one questioned why anyone would decide to be a warrior candidate. The perks and benefits for the family as a whole were motivation enough. His own family had been ecstatic at the decision and they had all quickly clocked it up as a means of redemption of a past they had all wanted to forget.</p><p>In the day when he did discuss motivations with his newfound friends, he did fall back on the family redemption sob story and the desire to become a true Marleyan. In the night when it was just him and his emotions and the stories he played out when he went to bad, Udo fell back to his other reasons.</p><p>The stories had been comforting. The stories had been vivid. The stories never left and every night they only got longer and longer. Even with the stories of the island devils, fed to the warrior candidates more quickly than their own everyday meals, Udo couldn’t help but see past it.</p><p>Maybe the ‘island devils’ within the walls really were the subjects of his stories. And if they were, didn't that mean there were still more to figure out? More to think about beyond the tales in textbooks?</p><p>There were truths in the island of Paradis, maybe stories he had yet to make. Maybe there were people he had yet to meet.</p><p>And maybe there were bonds he had yet to realize.</p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>It isn't done. I have a plot in mind and I have plans on how I want this story to go. I just have ATOTS I really just wanna get out of the way and as soon as I do, I probably will tackle another multi chapter and it might be this or Rekindle and since I’m not completely sure which one I wanna post side by side with Division of Labor, I marked it as a one shot for now. </p><p>Anyway, feedback is appreciated!</p></blockquote></div></div>
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